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Sunday, August 26, 2018

Book Review: A Thousand Perfect Notes

Today, I rarely buy books. Especially books I’ve never read
before. It’s sooooo hard when I live in a country that doesn’t speak English,
and the nearest bookstore that carries new books happens to have a tiny English
section only has the occasional book I might pick up but not want to own.
Instead, I tend to get most of my books from the library, and even then I’m
still picky.

To say that I bought A
Thousand Perfect Notes on a whim and thoroughly enjoyed it… Wow. Just wow!

Who am I kidding? I’ve been following Paper Fury’s (C. G.
Drews) blog for a while now, so I shouldn’t be a surprise. I like to support
debut authors, so I’m proud to have bought a copy. The cover is gorgeous, and
the book is even more so!

No, I am not reviewing this book in August simply because
one of the characters is named August. It just sort of happened. Actually, most
of the book takes place in July, so there you have it.

The characters were definitely one of the best aspects of
the book. Beck is such a cinnamon roll, and I would definitely give him all the
cake! He could use some more sweetness in his life. Seriously, his friend August
and her family were so good for him! I wonder how he’d like the German cakes…

Another reason I enjoyed this story so much was the writing
style and all the talk of music. Books about music are so fun! I only wish I
could listen to some of the songs. This book would make an excellent movie.

To summarize how much I enjoy this story, here’s an actual
conversation I had with my sister:

Me: This book is so good!Sister: *reads opening line*ATPN: What
he wants most in the world is to cut off his own hands.Sis: Why does he want to cut off his hands?Me: Because his mother is insane.Sis: Oh.

Is it weird that she took that as an actual reason? Wow, we
read too many books. She doesn’t read nearly as much as I do, but I try to pass
on all the best books.

The only thing was that I had only the faintest idea that the
book was set in Australia until three fourths of the way through the book.
There was more talk about Beck moving to Germany than there was of him actually
living in Australia. As somebody who’s never been to the latter and actually
lives in the former, I would have liked to know more than it’s cold there in
July. Of course, settings don’t tend to be the focus of young adult books.

Some of the plot twists were fairly predictable, but I
enjoyed the ending all the same. Sort of? I mean, I almost cried, so there’s
that. It was so intense I was definitely fangirling by the end. Definitely
qualifies as a well-written ending in my book!

In all, I gave A
Thousand Perfect Notes 4/5 stars for relateable characters and an enjoyable
story despite any predictable moments. I’d recommend it to any fans of
contemporary YA novels, and I look forward to C. G. Drew’s next book!